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SACRED - OR PROFANE? Church of England priest calls Archbishop of Canterbury an '...Expletive Deleted...'

In
the United Kingdom, the controversy swirling around same-sex marriage
has led to a vicar taking to his Facebook account to declare the
Archbishop of Canterbury a "[Expletive Deleted]." The obscenity in
question is a British term usually used to describe an "onanist."
Reverend Marcus Ramshaw, who likewise trained for the priesthood at the
same Durham College as Justin Welby, described him as a "massive
mistake" in an online rant.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Ramshaw demanded the Archbishop resigned after he spoke against gay marriage during a House of Lords debate. "He does not speak in my name and I think he is a [Expletive Deleted] but I'm not going to stop being a Christian or a priest."

In response, the Church of England's public relations team tracked him down because they were angry about his comments - and requested that he delete them.

"My attention has been drawn to your recent comments directed at Justin Welby," Reverend Arun Arora, head of communications for the Church of England said in a message.

"Clearly you are upset with the political stance of the C of E leadership. That much is clear. However that is no Justification for your language and vitriol.

"Calling another Christian a [Expletive Deleted] doesn't work for me as a priestly response.

"I hope you might find time to reconsider the expression of your anger and delete some of these posts."

Ramshaw replied, "I will, I don't know you at all but I see you are director of comms, please specify exactly what you wish me to withdraw and I will oblige."

Arora then said responded: "How about removing the line about Justin "a(n) [Expletive Deleted]?" He added "I think any right minded person would find a priest calling his archbishop an onanist to be utterly outrageous."

The Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this week warned that David Cameron's push for gay marriage would diminish the institution and weaken the family.

In his first major intervention on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, the Most Reverend Justin Welby said he could not support the legislation "as it stands.

"Rather than adding a new and valued institution alongside it for same gender relationships, which I would personally strongly support to strengthen us all, this Bill weakens what exists and replaces it with a less good option that is neither equal nor effective," he said.

"The concept of marriage as a normative place for procreation is lost; the idea of marriage as covenant is diminished; the family in its normal sense, predating the state, and as our base community of society, as we have already heard, is weakened."